Smith and Uarger — St. George's Banhs Dredgings. 25 



partially owing to the diiference in the character of the bottom as 

 well as to the diiference in depth. Of the species occurring in deep 

 water, a much larger proportion than in the shallower waters are the 

 same as those of northern Europe, At the greatest depth reached 

 by the dredge, about 430 fathoms, at the locality [g) east of George's 

 Bank, almost all the species which were not also found in shallow 

 water are European. Some of these species, however, were dredged 

 in 1872, by Prof. Veri-ill, in the central part of the Bay of Fundy, 

 east of Grand Menan Island, in 95 to 106 fathoms, where the char- 

 acter of the bottom was quite similar to that of our deepest dredg- 

 ing. 



At each of the three deepest of Dr. Packard's dredgings, (o) 110 

 fathoms, {p) 85 fathoms, and (s) 150 fathoms, the bottom was com- 

 posed of soft sandy mud, very ditferent in character from that at any 

 of the localities examined by us. The fauna of the bottom at these 

 three places was essentially the same, and, although many of the 

 species, on account of the character of the bottom, were diiferent 

 from those at the locality in 430 fatlioms, about the same proportion 

 are identical with European species. 



Although the dredgings in deep water were so few, the facts pre- 

 sented in the foregoing lists with reference to the bathymetrical dis- 

 tribution of species, are important and very interesting. Of the 

 species enumerated from 430 fathoms, considerably more than half 

 are well known shallow water forms, many of them even occurring 

 between tides in the Bay of Fundy and at other points on the coast, 

 while nearly all the species mentioned are also found at less than 50 

 fathoms depth. The same remarks Avill apply to the deeper dredg- 

 ings of Dr. Packard and Mr. Cooke. The species from the deepest 

 dredging belong apparently to as highly organized groups of animals 

 as do those from shallow water. We were not able to detect any 

 decrease in the intensity of the colors in individuals from this depth. 

 The colors of Pandalus an?iidlcor>ns, Eupagurus Kroyerl^ Unciola 

 in-orata^ and Urticina crassicornis, all brightly - colored species, 

 seemed to have lost none of their intensity at the depth of 430 

 fathoms. 



Besides the investigation of the fauna of the bottom by means of 

 the dredge, every opportunity Avas employed for collecting those 

 animals which live in })art or wholly at the surface of the water. 

 Notwithstanding the unfavorable character of the weather during 

 most of the time we were at sea, towing nets were used, whenever 

 soundings were being made, and usually with very good results. 

 Nets of small size were several times successfully used even Avhen the 



Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. III. 4 August, 1874. 



